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Brouwer Award Selection Rules

The Dirk Brouwer Award

The Dirk Brouwer Award, hereafter referred to as the Brouwer Award, shall be an honorarium of $2000 plus an appropriate Certificate containing a citation from the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society.

Posthumous awards may be made within five years after the death of a candidate. In such event, the Award shall consist of the Certificate alone.

The Brouwer Award shall be made no more than once per year, nor more than once to a given individual.

The Brouwer Award shall be made in accordance with the Bylaws of the AAS and the policies of the Council of the AAS.

On occasion, the award may be jointly shared by two equally qualified candidates.

Basis of the Brouwer Award

The Brouwer Award shall be granted on the basis of any, or all, of the following criteria:

excellence in scientific research

impact and influence in the field

excellence in teaching and training of students

outstanding advancement and other support of the field through administration, public service or engineering achievement.

The selection of a worthy recipient for the Brouwer Award shall be made from candidates of any gender, nationality, occupation, field of interest, aspect of contributions, quantity of contributions and other relevant factors. Candidates must have received their PhD. (or equivalent) degree more than 10 years prior to the date of nomination. Because of the multiformity of factors differing in fundamental nature, determination of the relative strength of each factor or contribution will, of course, be a very difficult and complex matter. However, the following approximate relative weights shall serve only as a guide:

excellence in scientific research

impact and influence in the field

excellence in the teaching and training of students

outstanding advancement of the field through administration, public service or engineering achievement

The Brouwer Award may be given in any branch of Dynamical Astronomy which is represented by the membership of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy including celestial mechanics, solar system dynamics, planetary and exo-planetary dynamics, astrometry, geophysics, stellar systems, galactic and extragalactic dynamics.

The Brouwer award nominations cannot be closed until at least one female candidate is in the pool. If there is no female candidate in the nomination pool at 2 months before the normal date of closure, the Brouwer award committee shall advise the membership of the situation.

The Brouwer Award Selection Committee

The Brouwer Award Selection Committee (BASC) shall consist of three regular members not currently serving on the Committee of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy at the time of their selection, who are knowledgeable in this field as well as other fields of Astronomy or Science. After each annual meeting, the member with the longest tenure will be replaced by a new BASC member, to be selected by the Committee of the Division.

There shall be two ex officio members of the BASC, with vote: the current Chair of the Division, and the previous Award recipient (that is, the one named a year ago, who will begin tenure on the BASC at the time the award is received, irrespective of membership on the Committee of the Division. If the previous Award recipient is unable, or declines, to serve, or if no award was made in the last year, the current Chair of the Division will appoint a member from former recipients.

In selecting regular members of the BASC, the Committee of the Division shall attempt to maintain, if possible, the following balance:

one senior scientist,

one junior scientist, and

three different branches of dynamical astronomy.

The regular committee member with the longest tenure shall serve as Chair. In addition to leading the BASC, the Chair shall report to the DDA Committee at its annual meeting, to present the slate of candidates selected, discuss the general status of other nominations, and make recommendations for any changes in the award selection procedure.

The BASC should actively seek to assure a good range of high quality nominees for selection. Members of the committee may not nominate candidates themselves but can request the re-nomination of candidates who previously have been regarded favorably by the committee, and request nominators to complete partial nominations. Nominators should be kept informed of the status of their nominations, so that they can seek to complete documentation as necessary.

The Award Selection Process

Public announcement through appropriate media, including the DDA Newsletter and the AAS Newsletter, shall be made that the BASC will consider the selection of a recipient for the Brouwer Award. These shall be published between six months and one year before a meeting of the DDA Committee at which a recommendation is to be made.

Anyone may submit a name for consideration for the Brouwer Award. A candidate's documentation must include a letter of nomination by a member of the AAS or DDA, the curriculum vitae, a list of publications of the nominee, and at least three letters of recommendation, by experts in the field of the nominee, attesting to the long term impact and influence of the nominee's various contributions. If these documents are provided by the nominator, the candidate must be given full consideration by the committee. Otherwise, the committee may choose to complete the documentation itself, or leave the nomination incomplete. Complete nominations should reach the Chair of the BASC at least three months before the meeting of the DDA. Previous nominations from the past 3 years shall be automatically considered without renomination. A nomination shall be considered current if the letter of nomination and at least three letters of support have been received within three years of the prospective award. A re-nominator may, include or remove material from the earlier documentation. An incomplete nomination shall be retained (but circulated by name only) for three years from the receipt of the letter of nomination.

The Chair of the BASC shall circulate to the BASC copies of all documentation for each complete, current nomination, and the names of any proposed candidates for which complete documentation has not been received. The Chair shall also assure that all committee members have a copy of these rules for selection, and provide any further guidance needed to complete the selection process.

The BASC shall submit their first choice for the Award to the DDA Committee or they can recommend that no award be made. A letter containing the name of the selected candidate and the reasons for their selection, based on the criteria outlined in Section II, shall be distributed to the members of the DDA Committee at least three weeks before the next meeting of the DDA Committee. Along with this letter, complete documentation (curriculum vitae, bibliography, and letters of nomination and recommendation) of the selected candidate shall also be transmitted to the members of the DDA Committee. The Chair of the BASC, or another member designated by the Chair, should present the choice of the BASC to the DDA Committee at its annual meeting, and participate in the discussion, but not in the vote.

DDA Committee members shall review all materials provided by the BASC prior to the annual meeting. The choice to approve or decline the choice of the BASC shall be made by the Committee of the Division in secret ballot. A majority vote shall be required to approve the selection of the BASC. If the candidate put forth by the BASC does not receive a majority vote of approval in the DDA Committee, the Chair of the BASC, on may decide to put forth a 2nd candidate, or to recommend that no award be made.

The name of the candidate thus selected shall be transmitted to the Council of the AAS for its information.

The outgoing Chair of the BASC shall transmit to the incoming Chair the original documentation on all current nominations, including incomplete nominations. Documentation on awardees, and out-of-date nominations, should be transmitted to the Secretary for archiving.

Notice of the Brouwer Award

Each Brouwer Award shall be announced at a meeting of the AAS.

Notice of the Brouwer Award shall also be given to appropriate bulletins and journals including: (a) the AAS Newsletter, (b) Physics Today.

Brouwer Award Lecture

The Committee of the Division shall decide at the time of selection of the Awardee whether or not there shall be a lecture, and if so, whether it should be the Division Lecture at a meeting of the AAS or a lecture to the Division.

In the case of a posthumous award, the Committee may choose a person to give a memorial lecture in place of a regular Brouwer Award lecture. The Committee may set an amount to be paid, from the Brouwer Fund, to the invitee to cover travel and subsistence expenses.

If there is to be a Dirk Brouwer Award Lecture, it should be published as soon as feasible after delivery in one of the astronomical journals, such as Celestial Mechanics or the Astronomical Journal.

Brouwer Award Fund

Funding of the Brouwer Award shall come from the Brouwer Award Fund administered by the Committee of the DDA.

The Treasurer of the DDA shall monitor the balance of the Fund and make recommendations for its replenishment when appropriate.

Amendment procedure

The DDA Committee shall be the instrument through which amendments to these rules are made.

The outgoing Chair of the BASC, when reporting to the DDA Committee, should transmit any suggestions for revisions to the DDA Committee.